Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Some time ago, RedWire Times interviewed a 36-year-old male sales executive who signed up for a S$5,600 internet marketing course, and who totally regretted it later on.

What happened, exactly? I will briefly summarized it for you below, so that you would not part with your hard-earned cash so easily too.

The sales executive (let's call him Mr Y) first found out about the course on his Facebook feed, as the course owner has apparently advertised there. He described the advertisement as very impressive, featuring many successful students holding up big cheque and smiling broadly, posing with the course organizer himself.

THE COURSE PREVIEW - ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS SALES PITCH SESSIONS THAT YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND AND WHY

This 'trapped' him into the course preview, which Mr Y went. He was, as per other similar course previews, shown how much money the organizer (let's call him Mr X) and his students had been making using the internet. But due to his excitement, he failed to realise that none of the statistics nor material possessions were verified by anyone or a third party - he was just shown pictures after pictures of glorious and luxurious lifestyle of these people who have 'made it' via the course.

Mr X, according to the RedWire Times, presented the preview as though his income are on auto-pilot, and as though money will keep on coming in through internet marketing passively.

Mr Y was also asked to buy handouts to see what is included in the course, and he did, which I thought was quite weird, as usually, for these free internet marketing previews that I went to (and I've been to enough to know their patterns and styles of operations), these were given out for free.

These were printed on the handouts, and the following comments are from Mr Y himself and by me:

“NO TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE IS REQUIRED”

Comment from Mr Y: Not true. A lot of technical knowledge is involved. It was left to us to come up with our own website.

Comment from MyInternetMagic: You will definitely need to know how to set up a basic website if you do not want to outsource the work to someone, and even if you outsource, you will need to know
what to outsource so that you do not get cheated.Other small miscellaneous setups such as autoresponder, various plugins such as SEO plugin, security, formatting, etc. will all need you to do yourself as it is really too much money to outsource.

“NO START UP COST NEEDED”

Comment from Mr Y: Not true. Not only do we have to pay for the cost of hosting, there are A LOT of hidden costs that were not mentioned during the preview.

Comment from MyInternetMagic: This is even more untrue. There are startup costs here and there, such as domain name, domain hosting monthly, payment for a web developer to set up your website if you do not know how to, payment for someone to set up an autoresponder, payment for an autoresponder, etc.

And the biggest chunk of the cost will come from ads, more specifically Facebook ads, which will suck up a lot of your capital. No one will bother to tell you this information at all. Think for yourself - if you set up a website, but there is no traffic, how do you get traffic instantly? Of course, there has to be some ads directed to your website. This works the same way for a brick-and-mortar shop - where you have to buy ads such as TV, radio, outdoor, or digital ads to drive traffic to your store.

“IT IS A FULLY DONE FOR YOU SYSTEM”

Comment from Mr Y: Not true. There is no such thing as FULLY DONE FOR YOU, because there are still a lot of things to be done. The so-call FULLY DONE promised and delivered was probably at most 5% of the whole system.

Comment from MyInternetMagic:As per my explanation above, this is completely untrue. If it is fully done for you, it would not generate traffic for you monthly at all. You will still need to fork out cash to run ads such as Facebook ads to drive traffic to your 'system'.After the preview, Mr X told the attendees to sign up on the spot, telling them that there are limited seats left. According to the interview on RedWire Times, Mr Y said this was not true because he found out later that even after the preview, there were still people signing up for the course!Unfortunately, it was too late by the time Mr Y found out, because he had already succumbed to the pressure and signed up like the others, believing 100% what he was told in the preview. And what exactly happened during the 2-day Internet Marketing, Make Money Online Course, which Mr Y paid more than S$1,800 for?Read on...

DAY 1 OF COURSE

To summarize, Mr Y said he was only taught how to create advertisements using Facebook for the entire 8 hours!

The course did not teach him how to sell on the internet, nor how to market his own products on different platforms other than Facebook. Throughout the course, he was just taught how to set up Facebook ads to promote Mr X's course (for a very attractive referral fee), a total waste of time and money. As well, the amount of money you put into Facebook ads might not be recovered if there is no lead at all, something which he did not tell you before.

Comment from MyInternetMagic: For your information, anyone can learn how to
create advertisements using Facebook online, for example on YouTube(just google for what you need, example 'How to Create Facebook Ads 2016 to get the latest information), or Udemy for just USD 10(just google for a Udemy discount coupon online). There is no need to pay more than S$1,000 to do so.

Mr X taught them about affiliate marketing, and by then, Mr Y already realised that the cost involved to do affiliate marketing could easily be more than what you can earn. For instance, he mentioned that one has to spend extra money to buy email list, Facebook ads (which I have mentioned before, as one of the ways to drive traffic to your affiliate items), and if you are just starting out, you can easily spend more than $1k to $2k. All these Mr Y was not told during the preview.

Comment from MyInternetMagic:Again, you can google for free courses on affiliate marketing online, without the need to buy any courses at all.

And the worst thing is, Mr X tried to upsell another course (his 2nd one) using the same method, counting down the number of seats left to pressure the attendees to buy on the spot. This 2nd course costs Mr Y another $3.8K, which he naively signed up for again.

2ND COURSE'S CONTENT

During the 2nd course, Mr X promised them a series of modules that they will be going though together. But in actual fact, only 2 modules are conducted as a live training! The rest of the modules they have to go home and download videos to learn, and Mr Y found out later that all are old training videos.

Comment from MyInternetMagic:In total, Mr Y spent more than S$5,600 which he could have got the content for free online. So do be careful of all these money-making seminars - some are quite aggressive in their ads and you will likely see them everywhere on Facebook e.g. Internet We***h M**te*y, We*l*h Internet A**d**, Ea*ypre**** and many more. If you are suspicious of any course, google for them online. Alternatively, follow this site for more information. And, if you must go to such a course preview, go without your wallet and credit cards.Credit for content of this article: RedWire Times

Email me if you cannot find good and free content for Internet Marketing - I can definitely help you out! No hidden agenda at all, do not worry.

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Note: For those who think that I'm only complaining and writing this review because I'm just someone who is pissed just because I'm not earning from my ventures and taking action, let me tell you that I am already earning a good income from a mix of tee platforms (not Teespring though) from learning from FREE online resources. My objective in sharing and writing this is to warn others not to fall for such scams again, like I did. And yes, it is possible to make it without spending on $6k a month private coaching course. I am proof. =======================================================================

This is a genuine review of the flimsy membership course of Chris Blair (or Doten Christoper, or Chris Doten) and Phil Kyprianou, including detailed, blow-by-blow screenshots to explain my review.﻿ What is meant to be a monthly membership benefit for customers with regular content has turned into something that is not worth a dime. And how they treated their customers is precisely how they will treat you when you hop onto their courses so beware, and read on...

Before that, I want to make it clear my stance and the basis of my review below, and no one puts it better than one of his students here:"I think most people were confusing his coaching which is probably great (well, we have not bought it to review it yet but you can judge for yourself his mediocre content in his membership), to buying a lifetime membership to a site that doesn't update its content. I
don't care how good his coaching is. The undeniable fact is he
mentioned Master Level Marketing (or now eComFury) will be on a monthly
content basis but that never happened. And he charged an amount that's
totally unjustified for the crap content." I leave it to you to judge
whether this is a scam or not.

Chris Blair﻿

Phil Kyprianou

Although I am running a few sites and many other projects, I feel that I need to take some time to write this review as I do not want anyone else to be conned anymore. I am writing this so that if you are thinking of purchasing this membership, or even Chris Blair's private coaching, think twice or email me for more information.
I purchased Chris Blair's Master Level Marketing (MLM) membership course on 31 July 2015 for USD$497.95, a few days before he was supposed to turn it into a monthly membership fee course, but of course, he never did. It was all a gimmick. I later on found out that many of us also did the same thing. [By the way, if you came to know him through Teespring/Fabrily's one single video, do not be fooled. Seriously. (although it was informative, it was quite basic too, and you can find it anytime on YouTube). I also purchased this membership because I thought all the other videos would be of the same or better quality and content. How wrong I was! The other videos inside his membership are all so lame I think my dog can do a better job].

I went in all excited, because I wanted to learn all about Facebook ads and marketing, particularly advanced Facebook techniques and power editor, as he has touted himself to be the real 'Facebook' expert on his sales page here below. I took pain to view every video, and before I knew it, I has devoured every video on his page. (It only took me less than 3 days to finished all the content on his portal, that's how bad the videos were). Eagerly, I waited for more new content, but alas, I was sorely disappointed. He only did random webinars, of which he just answered questions from customers, and those were not full fledged training videos at all.

3 November 2015 - My First Feedback to Him

It got so bad that on 3 November 2015, I dropped him an email with my feedback. Below is my exact email to him:I just want to give you some feedback so that it can be improved further (if anyone is still responding to this email, that is):

1) All the videos are so old that I can easily find them on YouTube without the need to pay for anything else.

2) Also, the Facebook groups of Master Level Marketing, and the new one, eCom Fury, although once touted as one of the benefits of the membership, hardly benefits us, as questions most often than not does not get answered at all (I bought two courses also on Udemy for just $10 one-time payment, and my questions get answered every time).

3) There are only random Shopify and ecommerce questions and answers, esp on the Facebook groups. I signed up because I want to learn more about Teespring, and advanced Facebook, and on your sales page before I bought, the owners of the groups called themselves the 'real Facebook experts', but all I see inside the membership portal now are all videos that I can easily learn from YouTube and Udemy.

4) The videos quality and sound are so bad that I cannot even listen properly to some of them, even with my earpieces on (or my good quality, newly bought speakers), the sounds on at full blast in a quiet environment. And all my devices are new, or just bought a few mths ago just for this.

5) I know there are monthly webinars to help, but I have to miss most of them due to work commitments and these are seldom uploaded onto the membership portal. I sometimes have no time to browse through each and every post on the Facebook groups, which mostly I do not understand cos those were not my niches. Update 27 April 2016: There are no more webinars after this, until some members complained, then he hastily said he would conduct one this week. Let's see what he comes up with and I will do an update. I'm not expecting a lot from him, seriously.

I realise the importance of private coaching students who definitely pay more to learn, but we also pay for membership and are considered as customers too, and US$500 one-time payment in some countries are not considered cheap for some working class employees.

Hope you could take all of these constructive feedback into consideration.

His Reply:

Have you been added to the eCom Fury group?

The reason things have not been updated in MLM is because of the new program (eComFury - which you are grandfathered in for life) is starting. And yes, the workshop webinars that are happening weekly are a big part of the value proposition.

We can do some webinars to adjust the time. He never did.

My Answer:

Chris

Thanks for replying.

Yes, I have been added to both groups since I joined, but most of the time I don't really understand 100% of what's being discussed there (mostly Shopify/ecommerce stuff?), so I've been there less often now.

I've also since viewed all the videos inside MLM (those that I can hear and see clearly on my laptop and tablet, that is), nothing that I don't know already (except the latest video perhaps). But I hope you understand that it's frustrating to purchase something, and realise that you could get the same thing, or even something better for free elsewhere on the web.

It's not just about the webinars (I do not even know enough to ask questions sometimes. I just had the opportunity to log in 'live' once but people were just talking about Shopify or some other areas I'm not focusing on, so I thought that was a waste of my time. It might be better to have a topic for the webinar each week?), it's the overall content of the membership and its propositions.

I do understand the new portal's under development, so that's why I've kept quiet for a while. I'm very sure there are others like me too.

I'm just giving some feedback from a customer's point of view, that's all. It's really up to you guys whether you wanna view this positively or negatively.

Thanks for listening to my feedback.

His Reply:

One key point you are missing when you say, "people are talking about Shopify" is the marketing methods are mostly the same whether you are selling on teespring, Shopify, Represent, etc.

Thank you.

My Final Answer To Him, Which He Never Bothered To Reply Back:

I totally agree, Chris. But certain things such as the latest how to insert the new pixel code video - the steps are different across different platforms. For beginners to a certain platform, I think this is important. I was looking at that, and had to turn it off halfway and googled for a solution myself cos it doesn't make sense for me to continue watching.

It's really just some feedback Chris, from a user/customer's point of view - pls do not take it too personally. We are all gaming for improvements everywhere in our lives, aren't we?

My feeling is that, overall, he is one person who does not take too kindly to criticism. He only likes to get praises from his followers and customers. [And I heard, the screenshots of his 'students' testimonials on his page are not real. So much for his 'one last coaching spot left!' shout.]

More Waiting....

So what did I do? Of course I waited, because he said we are all going to be 'grandfathered' into a new program which will have better content.

January 2016 - "You Will Have to Pay More If You Want More!"

Yes, that was exactly what we were told! This year, just this Jan 2016, Phil Kyprianou posted on eComFury that they are going to charge extra monthly membership fees (update: as of 28 March 2016, they are charging USD497 per month for additional content!) for more advanced courses and training. He generated a ton of negative comments. I was going to do a screenshot when I realised they have already removed that statement and all the negative comments. Here are some which I can still find:

Note: All the above are genuine comments posted on the private group Master Level Marketing. I have erased the customer's name to protect his privacy.

11 January 2016 - Asked for Official Refund

So on 11 Jan 2016, frustrated, I asked for an official refund. He did not bother to reply me, until I demanded a reply. It was then a long string of emails, the most significant ones I have extracted some below.

Hello!

If you want us to provide more training on FB ads I am happy to do so and there is a lot more videos I can make and knowledge I can share. Updated: 27 April 2016: As expected, he broke his promise again and did not do any videos or training courses ever again.

The fact remains we have increased the webinars 4 times in eCom Fury and the value has greatly increased. Not true, he or Phil, either one of them was always sick, had a last minute appointment, or gone somewhere and cannot conduct the webinars. And those weren't Facebook training at all, or none that are substantial.

The mastermind has many parts and it seems in your own statement you are only interested in FB ads and see no value in anything else.

Well that is like going to a full buffet and eating only the desert and then demanding a full refund because you did not eat the other parts of a buffet. That is just not fair.

My Answer:

Then I should more rightly be refunded, becausethat, is not what your sales page said. Your sales page has the text Facebook all plastered throughout the page, which gives the buyer the impression that it's all about FB strategies to drive traffic to other platforms such as TeeSpring.

To all my faithful readers, please email me (myinternetmagic@gmail.com) if you want to see a complete version of his sales page as I do not want to paste the link here to give him more exposure and let more people be cheated. I can 100% testify that this was what his sales page reflected, if not I would not have purchased his course at all, as all I wanted to learn was Facebook ads/marketing. His last sentence was totally unfair to me as a customer. His sales page did not state that there were a majority of "other parts of a buffet" at all (if there are, I thought they were only a minor bit, as my screenshots below showed clearly). If I had known there were other major courses such as Shopify and eCommerce that took up the other portions inside the portal, I would not have purchased the membership at all. And anyway, his "other parts of the buffet" were pathetic to say the least, and any Teespring or Shopify newbies would be able to get better quality content from YouTube for free (email me if you want those videos).

Here are some screenshots from the course, and inside the membership portal for your information. You can drop me an email if you need more information and I will be very glad to tell you more.

From the videos above, you can see that altogether, the Facebook ads content, including those webinars that he boasted about, are barely an hour! (33 mins + 40 mins + 10 mins) = 80 mins.

If you go to Udemy, you will find free videos of more than an hour or more. I just bought a course from Jerry Banfield for only USD$10 and there are more than 200 over lessons just on Facebook ads and marketing! And the best thing is, Jerry takes the time to answer your questions, even though sometimes it might be a bit slow due to the many questions he has to handle.

Ok, so the above is all about the quality, or rather, lack of it, of Master Level Marketing or eComFury membership courses. Feel free to email me at myinternetmagic@gmail.com if you want to know more. I'll be glad to chat with you!

Update 28 March 2016:

They have started their monthly membership at USD497 per month. I strongly advise you against signing up for it! You would practically be wasting your money, take my word for it.There are much better courses for free or at a much lower price than this, definitely. If you need more info, email me!

Update 7 April 2016:

Customers are all asking when will the next webinars be in private Facebook group called eCom Fury, but all their questions had gone unanswered.

In a separate posting on his own Facebook page, Blair had just said that he would stop all video trainings and just concentrate on his money-making private coaching, which further confirmed his scamming ways. Let's see what he comes up with next. And it also seemed like Kyprianou has disappeared for a while too.

Updated 27 April 2016:

As you can see from the above, I'm not the only victim or unhappy customer. The above post was deleted immediately, and in a minute, he posted that he would be doing a webinar this week, his lame attempt to pacify his unhappy customers who have been asking to no response from his or Kyprianou. Oh, by the way, he's always sick or has something on at the last minute and cannot do his webinars. Let's see, shall we? I'm guessing, this won't carry on.

There are probably more than 400 customers in his group. The funniest part is, I posted about his scam on my own Facebook page, and the next day, he removed me from the eComFury group, which I am entitled to as a customer. But no loss, because like I say, there is absolutely no value there. I just find it funny because obviously, he is worried that I would reveal his scams to the world. But that's exactly what I plan to do. Wait for my update guys!﻿

Updated 30 April 2016:

Some very interesting discussion on Teespring Newbies about Blair's $6K a month coaching program. Click on the image below and expand it with your mouse or click here for the actual thread. Have fun!

Updated 4 Feb 2017:

Seems like Chris Blair has gone quiet, so I asked a close source what happened. Seems like his business has gone downhill but he's still pretending that nothing is wrong, and continues to sell his expensive coaching...Please beware if you are intending to spend bundles on him as a coach.

I'm still trying to find out more, and will update again. Happy new year guys!

"My name is Chris Blair, and I am an Attraction Marketing Master and a
Network Marketing Professional living in Tokyo, Japan.
I was born in San Francisco but spent most of my childhood up to
university in Littleton, Colorado. I went to University of the Pacific
and this is when I first visited Japan and East Asia. At that time I
made up my mind to pursue a career in East Asia. I have lived in Japan,
Taiwan, and have spent an incredible amount of time on business trips in
China (I think I have been to China 30 times, each time a week to three
weeks long, it seems as if I have lived there). I spent one year at the
Taiwan National University studying Mandarin Chinese fulltime. I can
also speak Japanese.
After 11 years in corporate sales, I decided to give MLM/Network
Marketing a try. I must admit, I started on a lark because my good
friend was pushing me to join his business. I have since fallen in love
with this industry and now take this business very seriously. I became a
student of the industry and studied an insane amount of courses on how
to do network marketing online using attraction marketing."

More screenshots:

Note:

Hi, thanks for all your questions and encouraging emails. If I have any new information, I'll let you guys know. Keep them coming! I can be contacted at: myinternetmagic@gmail.com.

About Me

I have been working online since 2000. My main aim of starting this blog is to share with the world internet marketing scams, and products and services around the world. If you have any scams to report to me, please feel free to write to me at myinternetmagic@gmail.com.